Muthaura flown to SA for treatment

Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura at Nairobi's Wilson Airport, shortly before was flown to South Africa for further treatment July 1, 2009.

Ailing Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura was flown to South Africa for further treatment Wednesday morning after he developed heart complications.

Mr Muthaura jetted out at 9:15 am from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport aboard a jet belonging to the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) jet.

According to a statement issued by Government Spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua, the decision to airlift Mr Muthaura to the Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg was reached after doctors attending to him detected that arteries leading to his heart had “narrowed”.

This followed a series of tests conducted on the civil service head on Sunday, when he was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital complaining of chest pains, and on Monday.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, tests that had been done on Sunday and Monday indicated that head of Public Service Amb. Francis Muthaura had narrowed arteries to his heart. His heart, however, is pumping normally,” said Dr. Mutua.

Pictures circulated to the media by the office of the government spokesman showed a smiling Muthaura strapped on a stretcher as he was wheeled to the plane.

The decision to airlift the civil service head to South Africa caught many by surprise, given that his personal physician Dr Frank Mwongera and a cardiologist also attending to him, Dr Charles Kariuki had told the media on Tuesday that it would take between 24 to 48 hours to fully diagnose the nature of their patient’s ailment. The doctors had said that Mr Muthaura needed to undergo more tests to ascertain what he was suffering from.

At Wednesday'’s press conference, Mr Mutua hinted at the civil service head undergoing a surgery while at the Johannesburg hospital, reputed for its first class handling of cases of cardiac patients.

“The decision was taken that it is always better to treat these ailments early and that he needs to undergo further tests and a possible procedure,” said Dr. Mutua.

Reads the hospital’s website; “Cardiology has become synonymous with the name Netcare Sunninghill Hospital. The high technology and expertise of our cardiologists ensures that our cardiac patients receive world class treatment.

Patients requiring complicated cardiac intervention have been part of live workshops that have been beamed to national and international cardiac congresses. Electro physiology is also available to patients requiring this type of cardiac treatment.”

The government spokesman said that Mr Muthaura was expected back in the country “within a week or two”.
“The kind of procedure he might undergo is carried out a lot and the hospital he is visiting does about 40 cases a week.

Amb Muthaura is expected to have a very good outcome and to be back to his normal work routine. He attributed the complications to Mr Muthaura’s “old age and fatigue” explaining that he had not gone on leave for over ten years.

At the airport to bid him farewell was Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Internal security minister Prof George Saitoti and presidential advisor Raphael Tuju.